


Dog Diaries

by Robin Gills (Akiseo)



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack, Damon!Cat, Fluff, Gen, Other, Ric!Dog, Stefan!Cat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 07:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17198780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiseo/pseuds/Robin%20Gills
Summary: Elena's a nice girl. But she's way too trusting. She has cats after all. Ric decides she needs protecting. Ric's a dog who is skeptical of cats.The girl sticks her hand through the fence, palm up. Ric licks her fingers and she smiles. The girl scratches behind his ears. "My cats are going to hate you but you're so cute!"Cats and Dog AU - was crack but more plotty now.Basically this chapter can stand alone, but I kind of plan for at least two chapters.





	Dog Diaries

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't decide if I wanted Ric to be a Collie, a Newfoundland, or a Corgi, so up to you. :D (I know Corgi's don't usually have tails so maybe they won't work for this.)
> 
> Basically this chapter can stand alone, but I kind of plan for at least two chapters. I haven't written the second yet, I generally know what I want to happen next though. XD

Alaric lays in his kennel, watching feet pass in front of him. "That's not Isobel, that's not Isobel, those aren't Isobel's shoes, that's not Isobel." 

"Perk up dude," Enzo, the Rottweiler, next kennel over says. "No one's going to pick you if you don't look happy."

"I just want Isobel. Why did she leave me here?" Ric huffs.

"Based on what you told me she’s horrible and she picked that awful cat Katherine over you. She left you and she's not worth your time. Get over her," Enzo says. Ric sighs, he just wants to know why Isobel left him here. Was he bad? He wasn’t mean to the new cat she brought home. That cat was half feral, as far as Ric’s convinced. The cat never talked to him and would swipe at him every time he walked by. The cat had only been home a week before Ric was being dropped off here.

"More humans for you if I don't act happy," Alaric says. 

"True, but I don't want to be picked. I'm planning an escape. I’m going to be my own dog. I'm getting out of here next time they let us out to pee." Enzo says determined.

"Sure," Alaric says. Enzo's says that every day. Alaric watches a few more feet pass by.

Then a girl leans down to his level and he looks up. "Isobel?" But no, it's not Isobel. But- Ric raises his head fully. She looks like Isobel and she does smells really nice. The girl sticks her hand through the fence, palm up, so trusting. Ric licks her fingers gently, cautiously, she smiles. "Hey boy," she says softly. Ric likes her. He stands wagging his tail a little. 

The kennel door is being opened then, and he walks to her. Will he get pets? Ric wonders. And she does! She starts pettttttttiiiiinnngggggg! On his back, his head, and his legs. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Enzo's right Isobel who? Isobel didn't pet like this. “Who are you? I love you. You smell like cats, but I love you.”

"Well that's more like it," he hears Enzo say, but Alaric ignores him.

He weaves between her legs and she laughs and crouches down and he puts his front paws on her knees and licks her face. She laughs, turning her face but she's still petting him. "She needs protecting. She's too trusting. She owns cats."  Ric hopes the cats aren’t hissy like Katherine.

The girl scratches behind his ears. "My cats are going to hate you but you're so cewt!" she says. “They’ll have to share my attention even more,” she laughs. She hasn't stop petting. "I'm Elena and I want to take you home. How does that sound?” Ric licks her face some more. “Alaric is a bit of name though. I'm just going to call you Ric. Do you like that? Ric?" She asks him. 

Ric woofs gently, she can call him Al, whatever she wants, and licks her chin. She laughs. Her laugh is like light tinkling bells. "I'll take him," the girl says to the shelter attendant. 

"That's great! He's not been this animated in a while. I think he's chosen you as much as you've chosen him. Let's go to the front and we'll finish paperwork," The women says. Ric hears a leash clip to his collar and he stays beside them. He doesn't need a leash, he'll never leave her side again. He watches hyper vigilant of the other dogs, people around. Protecting, protecting.

"Good luck, she smells like a keeper," he hears Enzo yip after him.

"I hope you get out Enzo," he barks back.

\---

Ric forgot how fun car rides are! Elena doesn't let him stick his head out but she cracks the window enough that he can get his nose out and smell all the things. They pull up to a nice looking house and it has a yard! Isobel lived in an apartment which was fine, but it doesn't have a yard! He bounces in the back seat, he wants to smell everything. She gets a leash on him and then opens the door enough, so he can jump out. He runs around her. "Look Elena, grass!" The shelter didn't have grass just a gravel fenced lot. She laughs as he runs around her.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom, the car ride was a little long. I don't know when they took you out last." She starts walking down the sidewalk.

Okay! Walks are great! Walks are good! Walks, walks, walks. They walk down the block and back. Ric smells everything and pees on everything other dogs have marked. He takes note. He smells at least one Husky in the area and one Irish setter, maybe a Corgi too? A couple cats. They return to the yard the car stopped at.

Elena stops to get a bunch of shopping bags out of her car and he watches the area vigilantly, but nothing moves suspiciously. He does spy a black and orange spec in the window of the house in front of him though. Then they're walking up the steps of the porch. He can smell cats on the other side of the door, he hopes their nice, but he'll be wary until he knows for sure. "Hey cats," he woofs out.  He hears them scatter though and then Elena's opening the door. He smells Elena, another human, and cats.

"Huh, usually they're waiting for me, maybe they smelled you and got scared," she smiles gently down at him.

Elena shuts the door and takes off his leash. She hangs it by the door with coats. She walks to what must be the living room and sits on the couch with all the bags. He doesn't know if couches are off limits here. They were at Isobel's. She pats the cushion next to her though and he jumps happily up next to her. He licks her face. "I love you." She laughs and starts taking stuff out of the bags. He's got new dog tags and she tries to put them on while he tries to look at them. It doesn't work well, but it makes Elena laugh. Ric's now committed to making that happen every day.

She starts pulling out other things from the bags, another leash, collar, food bowls, a poofy bed - Ric can't wait - and toys! She gets one out that squeaks. She squeezes it and then tosses it towards the front door. He launches out after it and attacks. He grabs it and bites, bites, bites, bites. It squeaks but then it doesn’t. It's very dead. He picks it up and brings it back to her. "Do it again." It squeaks in her hand and she tosses it. He catches it sooner this time and bites. He picks it up to bring it back but Elena's off the couch and putting away the bowls in the kitchen. The bed stays in the living room. Ric just holds onto the dead squeak and follows her around as she puts things away. He doesn't see the cats but they're around. He knows. 

She takes him back outside to the even bigger backyard. She throws more toys and Ric kills them and brings them back. She rolls around in the grass with him and points her phone-thing at him. Ric can't remember a better day. They're lying in the grass for a bit and she's still pointing the phone at him. Oh, he can see his face next to hers in the thing. He doesn't get it. He licks her face and she giggles. 

Elena takes him back inside after a while and he gulps down water so fast he can hardly breath but it’s good water and he’s thirsty. "Shall we see if the cats feel up to meeting you?" She asks him. Ric's experience with cats tells him no, but if he must, he follows after her. They walk back to the couch and they sit. She's looking around, waiting he guesses. He put his chin on her leg and sighs. It’s going to take a while, so he dozes on her leg. Finally, Ric’s smells one getting closer. It comes walking in slowly from the hallway, cautious. He can hear a light clicking of tags bumping together.

It's an orange tabby. They look at each other curiously. The cat walks a bit closer and then jumps up onto the arm of the couch. He just sits there looking at Ric. "Hello Stefan," Elena says and he accepts her pats. "This is your new brother. Ric."

"Ric this is Stefan. He's my little angel," she says petting Ric's head. "Please no fighting. We're all family now."

Ric sits up and leans towards the cat to sniff him. "Hi," he gently woofs and Stefan leaps into the air and scampers out of the room. Elena bends over laughing. Well that’s definitely not what Ric is use to. "Stefan! You scardy cat!" She wipes at her eyes and pets Ric. "He'll get use to you. You're probably just really big to him. Damon may not come out of hiding for a while though. Warning he's my little devil." She tells him. Elena settles into the couch, pulling out one of those computer things. Well if we're not going anywhere, he's just going to lie here. 

He snoozes for a while. Then he hears a much gentler, quieter, little clicking of tags. He opens his eyes. There's a very dark, pure black cat with pale blue eyes shining out at him like headlights at night. It's sitting on the coffee table across from him, long black tail slowly flicking back and forth on the table. 

"Dog," the cat growls low at him.

"Cat," Ric woofs as gently as he had at Stefan. Between the two cats, this one seems the most dangerous. But maybe it's all show and no bite? They stare at each other for a while. Then all of a sudden Damon bops him on the nose. He snorts, surprised, shakes his head. No claws though.

Elena laughs, "Damon, play nice!" She leans over her computer and picks up him. "Your brothers now." She holds him close to her chest and he purrs loudly as she pets him. He bumps his head against her chin and she scrittches at his ears, kissing at his head. He looks directly at Ric, "She likes me best," Damon purrs. 

"That's fine," Ric says, he doesn't mind sharing. Damon just squints at him, distrustful as Elena pets. She kisses him one last time and releases him. He walks over her computer then over the back of the couch, leaving the same direction Stefan had. 

Elena shakes her head and hits a thing on the computer and things erases on the screen. "He's kind of a dick," she says to Ric. "He knocks all my stuff off the counters but he's very cuddly." Ric lays his head back on her leg and she pets his head. Yes, she needs protection, Ric thinks, maybe not a lot, but some. 

Ric spends a glorious afternoon of naps on the couch, naps on his new floofy bed, and toys! He doesn’t see that cats again, but he hears their tags occasionally. Elena's in the kitchen making food that smells really good and he hopes she drops some when he hears something at the front door. He runs to the front, protect, protect, protect. He sits in front of the door waiting. The door opens, and a man walks through the door. He has keys, but Ric doesn't know him. "Do you belong here?" he barks. 

"Elena!" The man yells, he doesn't move from the door frame. Ric hears Elena running out of the kitchen and she slides on her socks into the entry way. 

"Hi, Matt!" She pecks him on the lips. Oh, maybe this one's suppose to be here. The other human smell in the house is coming from him.

"Please tell me we're dog sitting," the Matt says. 

"Ah, sorry? Didn’t I tell you?" Elena says cringing. She pets Ric's head. "Matt this is Ric- well Alaric but Ric's better right?"

"Elena," Matt sighs, "You can't save every animal at that shelter."

"I know," she says, "but look at 'dis face!" She pushes her lips together and out at him as she says it in a weird voice. It makes Ric happy. She leans down and scratches at Ric ears and kisses him between the eyes. Ric's butt wiggles but not of his own accord. The man sighs he leans down and offers his hand for Ric to sniff. He smells like leather and he's very calm. Ric licks his fingers and he gets a head scratch. The Matt can stay Ric decides. 

He follows Elena's heals back to the kitchen while Matt takes off shoes. "Damon!" Elena yells and when she moves Ric can see Damon on the counter eating some of the ground beef. He's shoo-ed away and Damon laughs as he scampers away "Can't catch meeeee!" Stefan mews on the floor. "I told him not to!"

Elena sighs, "Can’t turn your back for one moment." She does something to the part Damon ate from and it goes into a white container on the floor. He watches the lid close. Shame. She next pulls out what smell like treats though! She feeds one to Stefan and then Ric gets one too! They both eat their treats quickly and Matt's joining them in the kitchen. He picks up Stefan saying hello and Stefan puts up with it but then squirms out of the hold and he's put down. 

"So, you went to shelter today, what else did you do while I was at work?" Ric stops listening as he watches Stefan leave. He follows the orange tabby, curious to know where the cats hang out, but he doesn't do anything more than jump up onto the highest bookshelf in the living room and look down at Ric, studying him. Ric gets bored pretty quick when Stefan doesn't do anything but sit and goes looking for toys! He finds a bone near behind the couch. He can see the kitchen from there through chair legs so he settles down and chews and chews and chews.

But then he realizes somethings bumping his tail and tags jingling. He twists his head to look. Stefan's trying to catch his wagging tail, he keeps batting at it. Ric flicks his tail and it baps Stefan in the face. The cats sneeze. "Hey!" Stefan pounces on it but misses. This is fun!

"I think you found the most patient dog on earth, Elena," he hears the Matt say. "Good thing in a household with Damon ‘the Demon cat.’"

He hears Elena laugh and Ric loves that sound. "What?" Ric hears footsteps and knows that both humans are close. Stefan keeps missing his tail and is squirming all over trying to catch it. Suddenly, a steak of black, out of nowhere, pounces and catches Ric's tail.

"I'm the best hunter!" Ric hears Damon muffle. He bites it but not hard and Ric doesn't really feel teeth. Damon bunny kicks Ric's tail and Ric tries to get it back. Damon lets go but jumps twisting in mid-air to get it back, swiping. Both cats are going after it now.

"This is hilarious," the Matt says. 

"I'm posting this," he hears Elena laugh. 

Damon catches Ric's tail again. "Ah ha! Gotchya! Bite, bite, bite." Ric lays down again. His tails' tired. He feels a cat stand on him. "Hey, make it move again." he hears Damon say.

"Tired," Ric says. 

"Hey, hey," Damon says and then Ric can feel the cat kneading his flank and then "hmmmm, pur, pur pur." 

"Ohmygosh, Damon's kneading bread!" he hears Elena squeal. Ric doesn't know what she's talking about, but it feels nice. Stefan walks up to Ric's nose, sniffs at him and then plops down on Ric's legs.

Damon stops his kneading and Ric feels him flop on top of him. A tail flicks into Ric's face. "Warm," Damon purs. "You can stay dog."

Ric closes his eyes. Maybe these cats are all right. This is nice. This is home.


End file.
